Page 101 of Foes & Cons
Just for a second though.
“Come on,” he says.
I follow him round the pool to a row of white plastic sunbeds.
“Won’t we get in trouble, being in here?” I ask, checking the corners for cameras.
Fake McKinley shakes his head.
“Dimitri’s cool. He let me in the other day. The pool’s being repaired or something; it’s been off limits for months.”
“I didn’t even know there was a pool,” I say.
“You going to sit?”
I nod, and walk over, lowering myself down slowly. I don’t need a comedy style collapse and trap situation right now. The plastic is hard and unwelcoming, but the quiet and the still water calms the storm that was brewing inside me. Mildly. Fake McKinley sits opposite me and clasps his hands together as he watches me settle.
“I’m so sorry you didn’t win, Eliza. You smashed the cosplay; the judges must have been out of their minds.”
“How did you . . .?” I say, frowning.
“I sort of overheard Felix talking about it after they screened ‘Music, Maestro’. I now have ‘Everyone Hates McKinley’ stuck in my head.”
“Oh . . .”
Normally the very mention of a song from the musical episode would be enough for me to launch into a performance, butohis all I have right now. “
“Coffee with actual Viggo Rassmussen though; you must be pretty psyched?” asks McKinley.
I wait for that to resuscitate my soul, but there are still no signs of life. McKinley frowns and steps closer.
“Eliza, are you OK?”
“Yes,” I blurt, shaking my head.
“Very convincing,” he says, smiling. He leans forward, tilting his head. “Did something happen with Roxy as well?”
“How did you know?”
“I’ve never seen the two of you without each other for more than ten minutes,” he says, “apart from the time you got stuck in the chair.”
My heart twists at the memory, realising that Roxy had to leave me stuck in the chair because she was on the phone to Iris. I look at him and nod.
“But it’s more than that, right?” he says. I nod again. “I heard Felix’s news about the convention. I’m really sorry. That’s a lot for you.”
“Thanks,” I manage.
“It’s him as well though, right?”
“Felix?” I say, wondering why I should add Felix to my list of woes.
“Charlie.”
His name makes my stomach flip. I blink at McKinley, Charlie’s confused face when we nearly kissed last night blurring my vision. I bite my lip and nod again.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” I say, shrugging. “Everything.”
